"Writers Thought for Today" blog is moving to a WordPress blogging platform, will be located at http://alturl.com/6izif and be renamed to "Publishing/Writing: Insights, News, Intrigue"

I cordially invite all my current and future readers to visit my new location for the very latest publishing and writing industry happenings...AND please click the free "subscribe" button in the top menu to follow my new blog...The blogging gods will bless you...

One day I will have the resources and time to attend an annual Consumers Electronics Show (CES)...but for CES 2011, I 'll just have to read and watch videos of the wonderful event, being held in Las Vegas this year!

I am absolutely enthralled with the new tablet computer tech and discovered Motorola's XOOM (and what an Android it is!) while reading this revealing article by Jim Louderback, covering CES 2011 for the HuffPost:

Two foundation-forming and trench-treading reporters that distinctly defined the cutting edge, investigative reporting that put New York's The Village Voice on the map as the king of alternative weeklies...have left the building.

A sad state of affairs for the Voice...which has been downsizing for some time. The Voice has had laryngitis, it has now lost it's voice altogether!

Wayne Barrett, with the voice for 37 years, was let go for financial reasons brought on by the current economic times. ...Continue reading...

On Christmas day people, armed with their newly-presented e-readers, downloaded over a million plus e-books!

Talk about regenerating and transforming bestseller lists in an instant...

E-readers have rode in and, in one swell swoop, saved publishing, the book industry and inspired reading. What a shot in the arm!

The only question is: who the hell truly understands all the opportunities in this newly-transformed, sleeker, more efficient, offspring publishing industry??*##% Did I say newly-transfo...Continue reading...

Jason Boog, editor of Media Bistro's GalleyCat blog, has put together an excellent list, coupled with some great links, reviewing the publishing industry of last year and forecasting coming developments in 2011.

You often hear of authors selling their book rights...but, today's post is about a best-selling author buying back his book rights!

Best-selling author, Steve Farber, is paying a handsome figure to buy back the rights to two of his leadership books from Kaplan Publishers so he can publish with No Limit Publishing Group; publishers more savvy in all the new tech publishing platforms.

No Limit is also offering Mr. Farber a 50/50 split on net royalties for both digital and print formats AND wor...Continue reading...

David Sokol, an Omaha native, has self-published a business management book (his first book) through online bookstore Bookworm. It has been it's bestseller over the last two years with 8000 copies sold to people from all over the world.

Of course, it doesn't hurt that Sokol is a top manager in a Berkshire Hathaway major subsidiary company AND that Sokol is rumored to become Berkshire Hathaway’s next chairman and CEO, succeeding Warren Buffett, 80.

"authors will take distribution into their own hands and sidestep publishers altogether, using platforms such as the ones offered by Apple and Google to go directly to readers"

While reading an article in the Delimiter, an Australian technology news source, written by Renai LeMay (owner) I discovered the "book ecosystem concept"... which simply takes you from author, to publisher, to digital platform and retailer...hopefully in one seamless swell swoop! LeMay explains how Google is trying to c...Continue reading...

When I began reading this inside look at Jackie Kennedy Onassis, I did not realize how captivated I would become. I really never thought of her as an editor...only as the First Lady or the wife of a very rich industrialist.

BUT, she had quite a life after the death of her second husband, Aristotle Onassis...as an editor...

Books, albeit 'live' or interactive, will remain a part of the human experience forever....And they will primarily consist of text, whatever the media format. Publishers, as an industry, will not. That industry has been fragmented into a democratic individualistic endeavor, if you will...A vastly more level and responsive playing field

Everyone who writes and presents are now 'publishers'...Talk about an all-inclusive vertical business model...In fact, talk about an all-inclusive horizontal b...Continue reading...

About Me

John R. Austin

Pueblo, Colorado

Writer, Old-Warrior-Adventurer, Blogger... I was born in Key West, Florida. A rather famous hangout for some past famous writers: Hemingway and Tennessee Williams to name two. I just hope that I possess a glimmer of their talent. I have a bachelors degree in architecture/construction and a master's degree in industrial engineering. I have been writing for fifty plus years. Most of my writing has been in the technical, instructional and business areas. I am working on my first book: "Havana Harvest---When Cuba Was Naughty" which details my coming of age experiences in 1958 Havana, Cuba, at the age of 15. Please visit my other blog "Writers Welcome Blog" at http://alturl.com/4z88.